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What really happened with the banana man, which is even more ridiculous.
The banana man
Sure, you can go ahead of us to buy one banana. But no good deed goes unpunished.
Shopping
I like this photograph because it captures one way people used to do the marketing: with their own two arms carrying a bag of groceries.
Salvage FTTW
At a salvage-grocery store, great tea cheap.
Mrs. Dash
Mrs. Dash is now just Dash, as I noticed when shopping this past weekend. The Mrs. disappeared sometime in 2020. That gives you an idea of how often I buy Mrs. Dash.
FEZiBO standing desk
Excellent customer service from a standing-desk manufacturer.
Crocs rising
Sales up.
Aldi and Garfunkel
Parsley, etc., all in a row.
Sliced Bread
Sliced Bread is an excellent podcast from the BBC.
Amazon ads ads ads
“The first page of Amazon results includes an average of about nine sponsored listings — twice as many as Walmart displays, four times as many as Target”: The Washington Post explains why shopping on Amazon has gotten worse.
Gosh darn urbane
Three tote bags for a trip to Aldi.
Hill, Sam
Today, as I strode a main aisle in our friendly neighborhood multinational retailer, an older fellow asked me, “Do you know where in the Sam Hill the mouthwash is?”
G. & S.
A store from the Brooklyn of my childhood.
A shopping tip
When you check out, keep your cart behind you at the start of the checkout lane and unload your groceries from the front of the cart. Your cart thus keeps the unmasked asshat behind you at a greater distance.
Christmas 1821 in 1921 in 2021
Christmas shopping, described in the New York Times. Includes a blurb for a grammar book.
Woolworth’s
Scenes from The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
The return of Century 21
Century 21 Stores went out of business last year. And now they plan to return.
An unexpected question
“Are you [unintelligible]?”
Beware of user error
I made a mistake. But I still think that the Wayfair business model, one of selling stuff from “the warehouse,” with no ready access to a supply of extra hardware for the furniture sold, is a lousy business model. No one can pick out a fastener or screw or knob or bolt and send it out.
Inventory
We were willing to pay for the convenience of shopping in a nearly empty store. And we tipped our cashier and bagger mightily. I suspect that many people are doing so.
The vanishing hardware store
Worth reading: a New York Times opinion piece, “The Life and Death of the Local Hardware Store.” The killers: Amazon and high rent.
Duck Fat
Toto, I’ve a feeling that we’re not in Wal-Mart anymore.
Who cans?
“Someday we’re going to ask a younger person where the canning supplies are and they’ll have no idea what we’re talking about.”
A shopping list
“I’ve got butter, fruit, green thread, and go to the library.” “And whatever vegetable looks freshest.”
Aldi on the move
If you’re squeamish about shopping in a store-brand supermarket, you can tell yourself that Aldi Nord, owner of Trader Joe’s, and Aldi Süd, owner of Aldi, are sister companies. Which is the truth.
#grabyourwallet
A new website for the discriminating shopper.
Blue-light special
It’s just the produce section.
Orange light art
[“As seen in east-central Illinois.”
VFAN Sr.
It’s quiet, solid, and incredibly powerful. Also legitimately retro. A great fan.
Cheap shoes
They’re cheap plastic — $6.99 a pair — so cheap that I can’t find a single photograph online, from any retailer.